He only comes out on the darkest of nights. Those when the moon and the stars are obscured by clouds and do not give out even
a glimmer of light. In fact you could almost believe that they are no longer there.

Or maybe it’s a night when the street-lamps are out. Maybe there’s a problem with their light detection sensors or perhaps
the bulbs have failed. Better still, for him at least, are the nights where the power is out on a large scale; where the only disruption to the dark are the occasional flickering candles or the
cars with their headlights passing along the road.

These are the nights when you take to your bed earlier, perhaps, than you would normally do. There are no distractions to
keep you awake and sleep should come easy. And it does. Almost the instant your head touches your pillow you find your eyes closing, your mind starting to drift....And you sleep.

You jerk awake, sitting bolt upright. Something is wrong, but what? You can’t see a thing, but there can’t be anything really
wrong, can there – you are safe inside your house, the doors are locked and the windows are firmly closed. It’s nonsense. You are being stupid and are much to old to be afraid of the
dark.

But he can bide his time, waiting until he judges the moment to be just right. He has so much of it, time that is. In fact,
he has all the time in the world. His only constraint is light.

He does not like the light but will come back night after dark night, if necessary.

You see, he feeds on your fears, your anxieties. The more nervous you become the more nourishment he gets. All he needs is
for you to be aware of......something. Is it in the shadows, or waiting outside your door? Is it inside your wardrobe or under your bed? He’ll make sounds, tiny ones too indistinct to be
identified. He’s quite happy for you to believe that it is all in your mind.

Only when you are so nervous that you hide underneath your covers, where you shake and shiver, your teeth chattering with
fear....only then will he strike for his final feast. As so often is the case, the build-up is the best part and the devouring is a bit.....disappointing.

But his appetite is insatiable and he will be feeding again on someone new. He just has to wait for the next darkest
night.

I have known from early childhood that the safest place to be when threatened by anything spooky is under the bedclothes. It must be true. I always felt safe there and I haven't been devoured yet. I liked your story, but it won't shake my faith in the security of my bedclothes. (If you don't hear from me again, you will know that I was wrong about that.)

AuthorReply

Comment | 24 words

Fri, August 11th, 2017 2:22pm

Haha! No, I agree with you, Joe. Anything spooky -- pull up the covers! Thanks so much for reading and for you wonderful comment!